By JOHN IWASAKI, SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Updated 10:00 pm, Thursday, July 28, 2005

With its non-traditional style and younger, multiethnic membership, the Quest Church views itself as a congregation that never arrives but continually "emerges," moving toward a deeper understanding of God within a shifting culture.

The intent is to "make this topic of faith and race part of normal -- and healthy -- conversations within the church," said Cho, an English professor formerly at SPU and now at the University of Puget Sound.

The keynote speaker will be Bob Ekblad of Tierra Nueva, a Skagit Valley ministry to Latin American farm workers. Other speakers include second-generation, Japanese American Christians who were held at internment camps or fought for the United States during World War II, and an SPU doctoral student whose talk is titled "Faith, Rap and Hip-Hop Music."

The enforced segregation that once existed in some U.S. churches has been replaced by self-separation, said McCann, who is completing her master's degree in divinity at Seattle University and serves as a pastoral intern at Quest Church.

Churches reflect society, and "people naturally gravitate to where they are most comfortable," said Kim, a former elementary schoolteacher.

At many places across the country, racism is "just as prevalent within the church as outside," said McCann. "The racism may not be overt, but the message is still clear: 'You are not welcome here.'"

That message does not mesh with biblical themes of equality and unity, prompting the race and faith teachings at Quest, which is part of the Evangelical Covenant Church denomination.

"I think, in this generation, at this church, we are getting away from (a belief in a colorblind society) and getting to a point where there's an attempt to have an honest dialogue, rather than ignoring what might be called 'the problem of race,' " Quest member Joel Hartse said.

"Churches, and not just ours, are talking about what tensions there are between each other's cultures."

Hartse is white; his wife, Sarah Heng Hartse, is Chinese American. The 25-year-olds participated in their church's recent class and will attend the conference.

Though they found the discussions refreshing, classmates sometimes were "a little bit self-censoring" so as not to offend others, said Joel Hartse.

That's partly because Quest members are young -- most are in their 20s -- and for many, it might be the first time they have engaged in "a community that's not quite homogenous," Hartse said.

Cho hopes the teachings will build a platform for churches to begin a dialogue and "maybe, also, to leave the impression that lots of church folks do care about these issues."

Some Quest members already see changes.

"Oftentimes, when people discuss racial issues, there's almost this overwhelming sense of despair. There's not a whole lot you can do as an individual," Sarah Heng Hartse said.

"But with faith in there, I think it puts it into perspective. You have a sense of hope, that not only are you coming together as a community, but in the will of God."